Introduction

WELCOME! I've been cycling through the Southeast Valleys of Wales since 2010 and I can't say (or show) enough about the place. I just love it. So if you've got the interest and would like to spend some time... sit back and let me show you some of the fabulous places I've discovered.

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

As usual, the Tuesday ride with the Kingfishers began with the question all around; "where do you guys wanna go?" As usual, we all shrugged our shoulders and collectively said; "I dunno... where do you wanna go?". Thankfully, Clever John had notions of visiting yet another church of historical significance north of Raglan.

So out came the map and loads of scouring, pecking, and finger pointing. And then after a bit of wild gesticulating, we decided upon a route of which we were vaguely familiar. We counted lefts and we counted rights, and then we four set off. Four wobbly old men, rambling out of Usk, on a crusade to find St. Michael's Church in the village of (can you say this?) Llanvihangel-Ystern Llewern.

Okay... so the doors were locked and there wasn't much of a story once we reached the village. What was the significance of this little church, John? I dunno. I guess I'll have to look this one up later. But when I looked closer at the map I saw a strange dotted line moving along just below where we were standing.

Monday, 18 August 2014

At the time of our decision to climb up to Gelligaer Common I was concerned that it would be too much for some in the Green Ladies group, but after a brief discussion they all seemed enthusiastic and wanted to give it a go. So off we went. And it does have some hills to climb, most notably riding up through the Fochriw Moors.

Looking back toward Fochriw.

In one short mile as you climb across the moors and up along the mountain side everything changes in scale. The view down Darren Valley is stunning.

The road across the moors.

Once up on Gelligroes Common you have views into both Darren and Taf Bargoed Valleys. Traffic is generally non-existent with one or two cars at most, but for some reason on this day it was surprisingly busy. We even saw an Asda "Free Bus". URGH!!!

Heading across the ridge.

But the real fun came just a few minutes after reaching the top. And it came on quick and hard. Before we could get our jackets on it was thundering with SLEET. I kid you not. It started sleeting. (profanities flew as fast as the wind whipped...) I snapped this one quick photo and that was it for the day.

Get yer jackets on!!!

We cut the trip short by not heading down into Parc Taf Bargoed and over to Hengoed. Instead, we shot straight across the ridge (raining!, raining!, raining!), through the wooded farms and down into Gelligaer. Then a fast cruise down the rather steep and busy B4254 to the Pengam Train Station.

ROUTE COLOUR KEY:

Traffic-free

Shared Use

Quiet Road

Steep Hill

And that was it for the day! Whew! Super-intense, dramatic, gorgeous, and very, very wet. See ya soon Green Ladies.

Friday, 15 August 2014

We had fabulous weather, a beautiful day... and a wonderful ride. It was simply one of those rides where ya just keep on it... "wanna stop and take a break?... no, no... let's keep going!" There is so much to see and such changes... it really is one of those rides where ya get it all.

Ya gotta love Wales. I could take photos, but I have already. This was about the ride. The Ride.